


Inheritance

by storyinmypocket



Category: Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Pre-Femslash, Prompt Fill, implied ot3, poetic license is a beautiful thing, the law doesn't actually work like that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-03-29
Updated: 2009-03-29
Packaged: 2018-01-08 21:22:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1137535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storyinmypocket/pseuds/storyinmypocket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new era for GeneCo, and a new beginning for Amber... and somehow, Shilo's in the middle of all of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inheritance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ordinarygirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ordinarygirl/gifts).



The first time Amber Sweet encounters Shilo Wallace, the kid's tagging along with Graverobber. Amber's in a bad mood, she needs a fucking fix, and Shilo's asking all the wrong questions. _God, doesn't she know anything?_

So yeah, she's kind of a bitch. It happens. And if the kid doesn't like it, she should go see a SurGEN about grafting on a thicker skin.

She forgets the kid pretty quickly -- she's _getting_ that surgery, no matter what her dad has to say about it. And then she's going to fucking _sing,_ and the world's going to forget Blind Mag and how fucking _perfect_ she is (it makes her sick, it really does) the moment they see her. It's going to be _great._

 

She doesn't see Shilo again until after the opera. After the single most _humiliating_ moment of her _life._ She's hiding in her limo, watching the rest of the opera unfold, floating on a hit of Zydrate, and everything feels pretty fucking good.

Maybe that's what gets her thinking. Shilo -- that's her name, she's learned, from watching her and her dad, Shilo, _that_ Shilo -- is saying stuff that makes sense. More sense than she really wants it to make, if she's going to be honest.

It's weird -- Shilo's so broken up over her dad dying, when, as far as she can tell, he was a total bastard. And Amber... Amber's dad is dead, too. She doesn't feel anything. She wonders if she should.

When she sees Shilo leaving, she signals to the driver to pull around front, has one of her bodyguards open the door. It's dark enough in the limo that Shilo won't have to look at her, and she wants to say something before the kid disappears.

"Wait," she says, and it's kind of nice, seeing Shilo freeze when she recognizes her voice.

"Why? You got what you wanted, didn't you?" Shilo sounds like she's trying to be angry, but her voice tops out at 'tired'. "Blind Mag won't be singing anymore. It's your big chance."

"You didn't see?" She scoffs a little, rolling her eyes. "Don't worry. It'll be in all the papers tomorrow. Or I guess I could _show_ you..." There's a slight lilt of cruelty in Amber's voice, a half-formed notion that if she can't impress this little girl any other way, she can at least scare the fuck out of her. She leans forward, just enough to let Shilo see her face through the open door, waiting for the look of revulsion.

She's disappointed. There's a hiss of indrawn breath, yeah, but then...

"...What happened?" If Amber didn't know better, she'd think the kid sounded concerned.

"Fucking dermal adhesive." She shrugs. "Stitches would show onstage, and Daddy's surgeon swore it would hold everything on." She tries to raise an eyebrow at Shilo, but there's no skin, no _eyebrow._ It's just a muscle twitching on her face, and if not for the Z, it would be agonizing. "Think I should have him shot?"

"What? _No!_ " There's something less than satisfying in Shilo's look of horror. Shock and disgust, yeah -- a reaction -- but it wasn't quite the one she wanted. "What do you want from me?"

And that's the question. Amber doesn't know _what_ she wants. Not from Shilo, not from her life, not _anything_. Fame, adoration, the perfect body -- it sounded good at the time, yeah, but after the disaster earlier...

"I want GeneCo," Amber says. She's a little startled to find out that it's true -- she was always happy to let Luigi and Pavi fight over who'd get to run the company. As long as she had enough to keep upgrading her body, she was happy. She _thought_ she was happy.

"So? That's not my problem. Your father never signed the paper, and it's got nothing to do with me. Can't you people just leave me alone?" Shilo looks like she start crying -- again -- and Amber's tone is gentler than she expected when she answers.

"It has everything to do with you, Shilo. Dad has no will, except for the one he was waving around earlier." She's thinking as fast as she can, trying to remember bits of things from law school. She didn't take it seriously at the time -- it was one more thing to do for Daddy so he'd give her what she wanted, but _now..._ "He stated his intent to let you inherit in front of thousands of witnesses, and in the absence of a formal will, that'll be taken into account. It's all yours."

"How do you know that?" Shilo's staring at her like she can't believe what she heard, like she expected Amber to be just some dumb trophy-wife-in-training. Everyone expects that from Amber, and usually, she just gives them what they expect, but maybe now it's time to do the unexpected.

 _Be_ the unexpected.

"I'm Rotti Largo's daughter," she says, with what might just be pride in her voice, "and I know my shit."

She lets that sink in for a moment.

"But... I don't want GeneCo! I just..." Shilo's backing away, and _no one_ backs away from Amber Sweet. But this isn't the time to play the bitch.

"You don't want GeneCo, I can help with that. Sign it over to me, I'll keep my psycho brothers in line. I can make this fucking company better than it ever was. And if you're worried about what's going to happen to you..." She shrugs again. "I'll take care of you. Get it all written out in the paperwork."

"Why?" Shilo's looking for the catch, for the part that's too good to be true, and again, Amber feels something kind of like sympathy. Daddy Dearest was out to fuck them _both_ over, in different ways. And for all the new and improved parts, Amber's still got her original heart. Maybe that means something.

"Who the fuck else is going to look out for you, kid? _Graverobber?_ He's a sweet guy, soft spot for a damsel in distress, hung like a fucking _horse,_ " and Amber's pretty sure she's not imagining the blush spreading across Shilo's face, "but he's got no attention span."

 _Graverobber and little Shilo. Well, isn't that cute. Amber Sweet might just need to learn to share, ladies and gentlemen._ And then she looks at Shilo again, flustered and flushed, and considers that maybe it's _Graverobber_ who could use some lessons in that department.

Amber's nothing if not flexible, when she has to be.

"Besides," she adds. "You're interesting. Someone who _doesn't_ want GeneCo? That's fucking heresy around here."

Shilo sets her jaw. "Fine. I'm a heretic. I don't _care._ I..." her voice trails off. "...I just want to go home."

Sympathy, admiration, interest... Whatever it is, it's enough to provoke a little more generosity out of Amber. "I can take you. You can consider it; call me when you've made up your mind."

Shilo steps forward, then stops, obviously wavering, and Amber sighs to herself. They keep this up too much longer, and she's going to need another hit by the time they get anywhere. "Look, you really believe all that stuff you were talking about? About choice, and destiny, and all that happy shit about it being up to you? Then do something about it. You've got all the choices you could want -- if I wanted to force you into this, I'd have my boys drag you in here whether you liked it or not. You've got the fucking choice. Up to you to make it."

Amber extends a hand, and for all that her skinless smile bears a hint of the old malice, there's a warmth in her tone that wasn't there before.

"You think you've got _balls,_ bitch? Then get in."

Shilo's hand in hers should feel like victory, but instead, it just feels like a beginning, and Amber can't decide if that's a good thing or not.

Either way, she thinks, it's something _new._


End file.
